spazegun2213

outside DC there are bikers of all ages and races, however out in indiana, its mainly caucusation. This is because its 90% white in IN. its kind of spooky though the hige diffrences.

lotek 

Koffee,

Check out Nelson Vails, black sprinter nicknamed the
cheetah rode in the 80's.

To be brutally frank, I believe that the issue is economic
in Southern Africa. I don't think alot of black south africans
can afford either a race quality bike, or the time required
to train towards elite levels. And RSA is the most prosperous
of the sub saharan countries.

As for the U.S. or Europe, I'm not sure. I have a feeling it
has to do with exposure (at least here in the US) but I'm
nowhere near qualified to speak about this one.

deliriou5

i think the cultural and economic barriers to diversifying the peloton are significant. however, if they were removed, i do believe that africans would be at the front of the pro peloton. given their track record in track sprinting and marathon, i think they would totally dominate cycling.

Walter

Exposure and economics is my take. I coach high school track and coached high school football (US) for 9 years or so. Accessible sports. Football equipment is terribly expensive but it's all provided except for the shoes. As a coach I can afford to buy a kid a pair of shoes every now and then but a bike?

Same with Track and Field. All you need is a pair of shoes. The really expensive stuff like poles for vaulting (they can be hideously expensive), jump pits and etc. are provided. Same with baseball too though to a lesser degree b/c a kid needs a glove too. However bats, balls, pitching machines and etc. are provided for the kids.

In theory if a school district can supply the money to pad up several hundred to maybe a couple thousand football players they could afford some bikes too. However, where do you practice? Velodromes are pretty scarce in the US and the school board attorneys would wet their pants if a coach took them on the road. So you have a sport where a $1000 bike is looked at as an "entry" model. That makes tennis look cheap.

Also, as many have pointed out, is media exposure. Win or lose my feeling is next year is it for LA. If Ullrich starts winning instead of another American what will happen to US coverage? My guess is the same thing that happened after LeMond left in 1991. We'll be remembering "the good ole days" of OLN coverage. Hard for an athletic kid, black or white, to walk away from the major sports in the US that might give him a chance to go to college and in his dreams may even make him rich for a sport "noone" has heard of and, at it's top levels, requires him to live in Europe.

Btw there's a guy in the NFL now that I bought his first pair of cleats for. Maybe I should look him up and charge interest?

FOG

The DC public schools have a program which introduces inner city kids to skiing, which has similar demographics and issues. I have had the opportunity to teach quite a few of them, and they are really interesting students on the slopes. Maybe we need to start an organization to obtain some raod bikes for some inner city schools, so that they can start up a cycling team.

deliriou5

i was gonna suggest the same thing... i think it's a great idea!!

Guest

Hmmm... FOG- sounds good. Maybe I'll get in contact with the guy from Park Tool who already teaches inner city kids about bike repair and helps them to find old bikes to rebuild so they can ride for themselves. It can't be that big of a leap to get old road bikes and have them rebuild that one, and then I'd be more than happy to take them out on the streets and trails for training rides.

Great idea!

TimB

perhaps people with an old steel steed in the garage they have not ridden in years because they're saving it for THAT special project can donate those frames/bikes.
This could be THAT special Project....

Walter

Not to be the party pooper but...

All the bike in the world wouldn't get road teams going in the school districts I have worked in or where I'm currently working. The fly in the ointment is liability. I know Florida is one of the most litigous states in the union but when cross country coaches get heat for having their kids run on the sidewalks along side the roads imagine the reaction to having groups actually ride ON the roads. The cross country coaches can usually come up with a low traffic training run since their athletes are training for 3 mile races. As we all know road race training requires alot more miles.

I did work in Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale) and the county Parks Dep't runs a velodrome so I could see something there. An added bonus is that a velo bike can be put together alot cheaper too. Maybe someday for that but high school sponsored road teams? I'd love to see it but am extremely doubtful.

meltable

Here we have a school program run at the velodrome. We have 40-50 track bikes of all sizes, which are provided to the kids. Coaches will set up the bikes for them, and then provide instruction on how to ride the track. I believe it costs something like $5 Canadian (around $3US) to have all of this provided - so it's very affordable. It's an easy way to get young riders involved in the sport and to promote our team.

Mike

shokhead

I work for lbusd and if it takes money,forget it.Insurance would forsure stop it.Cycling is just something that is going to have to atract you to want to try it.That said,how many just got into it and how many had somebody help.I wouldnt have started if my dad wasnt riding.

Stinger9oh

Actually, after the war, the family reopened their department store chain as Hertie--named for Her(mann) Tie(tz), the founder of the flagship store in Berlin. The Hertie chain (not the original store) is more like Mervyns than Bloomingdales. BTW, the store is definitely spelled Tietz (pronounced "teets"). If the spelling of the cyclist was Teitz, it is a different name and pronunciation (like "tights").

Rich

wabbit

Really, is that the same family? I can't remember the spelling of the cyclist, but I guess I could look it up. I always wondered what happened to the department store family, I didn't know they opened another store. Well, at least they got out of germany! I have to say I don't know what Mervyns is like, however, but from the description of the Tietz store in Berlin it sounded like Bloomingdales. I saw a photo of it and it looked very classy and elegant, but there was also a photo of it after the war and it was just a sad mass of rubble.

Stinger9oh

I guess I didn't make it clear, that they reopened in Germany as Hertie after World War II. The original store in Berlin was defintely high end. The Hertie chain that they started after the war was more like Penneys or Sears--a good, but basic kind of store.

I take an interest in this topic because my father's Berlin relatives owned a department store. I would have liked to have learned more about them, but my father last saw them in 1935. All my father can remember is the name of an uncle--and it was a very common name in Berlin. Even when I was living in Germany I couldn't get anywhere with what I knew.

Rich

poululla

Can't say that I personally know many/any riders of colour. Could be because I live in Denmark, but was there any this year, in the Tour de France? Is the professional cycling as white as I fear?

greywolf

I realy dont think its a discimination thing , just a sporting preferance !

LarryJ

My guess is that if one surveyed cyclists in the U.S. in a few categories (commuter, racing, weekend recreational) one would indeed come up with a tilt in the heavily white direction. I don't read a whole lot into that, however. Different activities and sports have different demographic histories. I've never participated in cricket, lacrosse, or curling, for example. It would be a problem if active barriers are thrown in the path of people of different races and cultures who are interested in cycling. Barring that, I don't see any need to do stress out over our demographics. My own policy is to try to be nice and helpful to anyone who's interested in cycling. It might be a naive approach, but I think it'll get more positive results than any of the alternatives I can imagine.

peloton

Cycling is a European, middle class sport.

Most of cycling's role models and heros have been Euros, and European countries have, let's face it, much smaller black and ethnic populations than the United States. Consequently, the kind of kids attracted to the sport are those who find some resonance in athletes like Eddy Merckx, Stephen Roche and Felice Gimondi.

It's also a middle class sport. Bikes cost money, unlike soccer, that requires nothing more than a ball and a field, or basketball. In the US, there is a strong racial skew to economic classes. Whites are more likely to be middle class, and thus more capable of spending $2000 on a bike, than blacks.

Finally, cycling has very firm roots in European middle class history. Traditionally, it has been the sport of the sons of shopkeepers and prosperous tradesmen. There is a deep cultural class resonance there.

So... is cycling a white sport? Mostly. I know a fir number of black cyclists and triathletes, but the pro ranks are mostly white... like hockey and skiing...

Bokkie

Most riders in the UK are white. Maybe riding a bike is just not cool for other ethnic groups?

It'd be nice if kewlrunningz could add his opinions but I haven't seen him around the forums for a long time now. Anyone know if he's still with us?

MichaelW

In the UK cycling used to be the preserve of the leisured classes way back, but by the 1930s, it was definately a working man's sport. Many of the hard-men of the peleton were escaping life on the farm or factory and many cycling clubs in the industrial north had strong socialist and union affiliations. There were middle class preserves, such as the more gentlmanly Cyclists Touring Club, but cycling cut across all classes.

greywolf

It is not nessarsary to spend big money on a bike to get started , a good 2nd hand road bike can be bought for less than the price of a expensive pair of soccer boots , how many people enter recreational cycling spending US$ 2000 on a bike ??

mightypudge

Cycling in not a "white" sport.

I ride in Philadelphia almost every day and I see a lot of African-American riders. And I'm not just referring to casual riders getting from here to there on cheap bikes; they are avid cyclists have high-end bikes and gear just as any avid cyclist would.

While I agree that serious cycling costs money, that doesn't exclude it from minority groups.

shokhead

I would say maybe size.Most of the black guys i know are a lot bigger then me,i'm 6ft,190.Maybe just to big for the sport and motor sports is the same,99% of those guy are small.Just thinking out loud.

nathank

greywolf,

while i agree that cycling is not really very expensive to get started...

it can be. as a college student, i for instance, had to REALLY save to buy a $250 road bike and a helmet... and then i trained but could not afford to enter races ($20-50)... and i was a _college_ student, so not really poor (i just had no money)

also, particularly in the US there is little developed club system where youngsters can get invloved and get races and equipment and coaching for free or discounted.

if you are a poor kid in the US cycling is pretty much out of reach... especially since you are unlikely to even encounter cycling or someone racing (yes, maybe the local DUI who lost his car, or the "rich" white guy in spandex)

but i agree with the earlier posts: that cycling is mostly a middle class european sport

P.S. in Texas i knew a lot of hispanic riders, a few asian riders but very very few black riders...

Ebbtide

You are in Atlanta so i figure your view may be more accurate. than mine (warm weateher, as integrated as we are going to get, progressive city) However, here in Cleveland (50/50 black and white, separated by a river) I see Black and White riders about the same. I do see this as an emerging trend born of poverty and the realization most people in the city don't need a car. I have never seen a Black rec. rider. Not until I get out to the White western suburbs do I see any White recreation riders.

What does this mean, nothing I guess. Perhaps some day there will be breakthrough Black rider that gets a new group of people interested in cycling. It can only help the sport.